Tuesday, October 27, 2009

No knead bread

If you aren't, please do yourself a favor and try it immediately. Honestly, it isn't the no-knead aspect of this that I love. I grew up making bread, kneading and all, and I have no issue with kneading. It's a nice arm workout, it feels very meditative, and it's a great excuse to eat bites of yeasty bread dough.

It's the crust. The crust on the no knead bread is fabulous. Bakery quality. It shatters when you bite into it. I made it for a dinner on Saturday and D and I had to physically restrain ourselves from eating all of it before our guests arrived.

The recipe has been dissected about a million times on the internet, so I'll just add my tiny tips.

Use a smaller pot. Or double the recipe. The bread doesn't rise a whole lot in the oven, so you will end up with a pretty flat loaf if you make it in a pot that is too large. If you don't have a smaller pot, don't worry. It will still be delicious.

Skip preheating the pot, if you need to. Transferring the dough to the preheated pot was too stressful for me. I will give myself third degree burns, given half a chance, so I avoid messing around with hot, heavy objects. If you have a similar problem, just skip that step. I lightly oil the pot I'm going to use and then transfer the dough to it for the second rise. It's always turned out just fine.

Don't stress about the timing. It's pretty flexible. As long as you do the first rise at least overnight, and the second rise at least one hour, you'll be fine.

Salt is needed. You can add more salt to the dough, as Mark Bittman recommends. Or you can serve the bread with cold, fresh butter and sea salt on the side, which is my preferred method.

We ABSOLUTELY are making this bread and love it. The best part is that the dough can sit in your fridge for 10 or so days. The fermentation of the yeast makes it slightly more sourdough-y as time passes by.

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